Autonomy
Ralph Gibson is an 80+ year-old photographer known for using Leica rangefinders exclusively since the 1960s. He has published more than 50 books, and is sought after for his knowledge and use of sequencing. Leica recently released this video where Gibson introduces his book-design workshop. What caught my attention was how he describes the interactive nature of a book and autonomy.
Gibson’s comments reminded me of an incident Kenneth Hagin described in one of his books concerning his preaching ministry.
Hagin had left a comfortable pastorate and started a traveling teaching ministry. This was back in the 1950s and 1960s when people expected fiery evangelism and where poverty was seen as a virtue. Life on the road was tough, and Hagin rarely had enough money to pay his bills, let alone try to expand his ministry. A Christian businessman approached him, and offered to strike a deal where Hagin could put his teaching series on tapes and in books. This sounded like one of those “divine appointments” that you hear about all the time from Sunday pulpits. But it wasn’t.
In August of 1963, Hagin was holding an eight-week series of meetings in a small church, and had set aside two nights a week during the last three weeks for prayer. During one of those nights of prayer the Lord appeared to him with an angel by his side. Jesus gave some instructions to Hagin, but then told him that the angel had a message for him, too.
I am sent from God to tell you that the money will come in four months, and you will have enough to set up your own office and make your own tapes. Other money will come and you handle it all yourself. I do not want you to be controlled by someone else. I will speak to you and direct you in your ministry. You will be the head of it — not someone else. Not only will you have this money in four months’ time, but other money will come, for my angels are at work now to cause the money to come.
The businessman who approached Hagin had had designs on controlling the ministry and profiting from it. Hagin retained complete control over his materials, and ended up selling over 70 million books (not including tapes) by the time he died in 2003.
“But Jesus himself was not entrusting himself to them because he knows all men, and because he did not need that anyone should testify about man for he knew what was in man.”
A curious thing about our church culture today is how quick we are to give away our autonomy—any form of content on any platform at any price (see, e.g., Twitter banning Christian magazine). This runs counter to what we hear in Hagin’s angelic vision. The Lord values autonomy and control of the message: “I do not want you to be controlled by someone else. I will speak to you and direct you in your ministry.” Ralph Gibson—who is just a photographer—seems to understand the importance of the interactive space of the message. How is it that our most prominent preachers don’t?
